In Clarence Almquist’s file I found the following Will of Klas (Claes) Petter Almqvist, my great great grandfather. I don’t have a scanner that could take the full length so I scanned it twice. What I have is a photocopy, and is cut off at the bottom. I’m not sure if this is an entire will, as it appears to be just dividing up the land.

Here are the two pdfs:
Claes Petter Almqvist Will page 1

Claes Petter Almqvist Will page 2

Eva, the very kind wife of my 3 cousin , once removed, Peter, has kindly translated it for us:

“In 1926, 2 October we the undersigned estate executors made clear the

Inheritance of the immovable property after deceased freeholder Claes Petter Almqvist in Rampekärr of Daretorp parish , who died here September 20, 1921 and left as right heirs , the widow Johanna Sofia Almqvist and her five children born with him, namely

1 / son Johan Almqvist Laurentius born in 1874 living at home

2 / daughter Augusta Frederica born in 1877 , married to John Henriksson , living in America

3 / son Gustaf Almqvist Clemenz , born in 1879 , America

4 / son Claes Teodor Almqvist , born in 1880 , America

4 / daughter Ada Albertina Almqvist born in 1887 married to Mr. Gustavus Karlbom Överberget.

The estate inventory of December 27, 1921 submitted ‘ , showing among other 1/16 mtl Rampekärr , after which the ordinance was undertaken in order as follows

_________________________________________________________________________

The property 1/16 mtl Rampekärr splits so that

widow Johanna Almqvist  gets  1/32

son Johan 1/160

daughter Augusta Fredrika 1/160

son Gustav Clementz 1/160

Claes Theodore 1/160

Ada Karlbom 1/160

Total mantal 1/16

Thus shifted in year and day as above

illegible name   illegible name the estate executors

With the above succession we declare ourselves to all parts happy and hereby confirm with our signatures.

As above

Johanna Almqvist  Augusta Almqvist

Johan Almqvist,Teodor Almqvist, Ada Karlbom, Clementz Almqvist,  GA Karlbom”

Eva let me know the mtl. stands for mantal, an old Swedish measurement of the taxable value of land. It refers to the size of a farm that can feed a family, originating in the 1500’s. The actual acreage varies according to the time period, what the farm produced, and area of Sweden. Wikipedia has some information but no real equivalents in actual size. Apparently, the size of a full mantal could be between 0 and 247 acres, and 1/6th of a mantal was what a common family could live upon and support/feed themselves. So when Claes Petter Almqvist died, he was passing on something between 0 and 148 acres.

You can see the general area of Rampekärr here and here (thanks to Eva again!).

From what I’ve heard from family I believe someone did sell the land by the 1950’s, but I’m not sure when. Perhaps I’ll find out as I go through more files.